When did allycats become lame? I think the last one I did was July 4th or maybe it was the Courier Classic? Regardless the July 4th race was the last real allycat I did.
I rolled up to the Metal Race last weekend and pretty much instantly knew I wasn’t going to race. I knew I made the right choice when even Crihs “the man who will race any race even his own” decided against racing as well.
Maybe I’m starting to get jaded. Ha. That’s an understatement right there. I feel so bitter about so much shit.
At first allycats were races organized by messengers and raced by messengers. The rewards were small and the recognition non existent with the same risks every messenger knew and understood from his day to day.
Eventually non-messengers began to participate. The prizes got larger and the competition tighter. What once was a way to pit your skills against the people you bumped in to inside messenger centers now became its own brand of an underground sport of sorts.
Today we have allycats that are no longer even organized by messengers are not raced by them ether. They have BMX categories(cough Baltimore cough) and skateboard categories (what the fuck?).
Who cares? So what? I mean we all knew the shit wouldn’t last. No scene or community does. Everyone eventually gets bitter at something or other.
Maybe this is just my second year messenger slump talking. God I cant believe its been two years since I first went on the road.
Anyway we have all heard it before. The “it used to be better before” and the “back in the day” oh and don’t forget the “when this shit was real” statements. There is certainly truth there. But it makes you feel like some kind of grumpy and bitter old man to listen to it.
So now I just suffer out on a road bike. No illusions there. Race to race. No posers just pack fodder.
